Posted
by
samzenpus
on Sunday October 14, 2012 @07:13PM
from the show-me-the-gadgets dept.

MrSeb writes "Felix Baumgartner has successfully completed his stratospheric skydive from 128,000 feet (39km), breaking a record that was set 52 years ago by Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger — that much we know. From the balloon, to the capsule, to the gear that Baumgartner wore during his 730 mph (1174 kph) free fall, the technology behind the scenes is impressive, and in some cases bleeding edge. ExtremeTech takes a deep dive into the tech that kept Baumgartner alive during the three-hour ascent and (much shorter) descent — and the tech that allowed us to watch every moment of the Red Bull Stratos mission live, as captured by no less than 15 digital cameras and numerous other scientific instruments."

He was not the first to parachute faster [jalopnik.com] than the speed of sound. He was the first to do so voluntarily. Of the first two people to do this, one of them died in the air. Not an easy feat.

A third record would be the maximum distance of ascent with a human-occupied balloon, which may exceed the 39045m of exit altitude, as the balloon appeared to descend somewhat before Baumgartner exited. Actually, if the telemetry information displayed on the feed can be trusted then he reached at least 39068m (128177 ft) at the time that he was first sticking his feet out into the open.

Did you read abou this on Fox News by any chance? You obviously didn't watch the actual footage.

Felix stabilised the spin manually WELL before deploying his parachute.

They had a drogue chute ready to help stabilise the spin if it was required but he didn't use it because it could have prevented him from reaching Mach speed.

If he HAD deployed his main parachute while in an uncontrollable spin it is VERY UNLIKELY that it would have deployed properly, much more likely he would have remained in a spin, not so fast but with his body mass further away from the centre of rotation and hence still massive G forces.

Baumgartner achieved speed of sound 'autonomously' without first sitting in a high-speed jet but by freefalling. All other examples are of pilots ejecting from a high-speed airplane, going over Mach using an engine. So while what you say is correct, I would rather emphasize the "freefall" versus "engine-powered" part:)

When explaining his motives for joining Red Bull, Joe Kittinger explained that since 1960 he had been getting at least 1 phone call a month from some skydiver who wanted to beat his record and was asking for advice but when he explained to them the logistical challenges they faced they would quickly back off.